They won't.

In my opinion

Oh, I agree.

[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141424/London-2012-Olympics-Tenants-facing-minute-eviction-landlords-cash-in.htmlStory from – amazingly – the [iDaily Mail[/i on landlords forcing out tenants to make more through lets during the Games[/url.

And of course, there's the stuff I've mentioned elsewhere about the impact on local businesses.

I'm still surprised that local small shops haven't been forced to shut their doors for the duration for not being official sponsors of the event, but possibly supplying unbranded goods to visitors instead.


Sorry, I meant "suppliers of valued services to the games" instead of "official sponsors of the event" there.

One slightly improved route is still an improvement.


On the OP. It isn't as bad as the cheating aussies. Ian Thorpe has to be the only person to not qualify for an Olympic event as he false started and was disqualified in his event. THe only way he could qualify was for the person who qualified to give up their spot. Not what do you think happened to the poor bugger who qualified.

Thorpe went on to win Gold.

It's pretty poor if that's the benefit that can be claimed for all the Londoners who have been paying extra for the Games via their council tax.

London has massive transport problems (for various reasons – primarily size of roads compared to amount of traffic) and the route in question does nothing to tackle that.

And to return to what I've mentioned previously, that's going to make no difference to the bloke who has to close his workshop for three weeks because the authorities don't want 'unnecessary traffic'. Or the business that is told to change it's names because it's called the 'Olympic Cafe' or some such (and has been for years).

Interesting point about the Thorpedo, though.

She can make me her '8th event' any time she wants

Just what exactly is wrong with the transport in? Driving, granted, is a nightmare and yes the tube shuts at 11pm but other than that?

Quote ="Enicomb"Just what exactly is wrong with the transport in? Driving, granted, is a nightmare and yes the tube shuts at 11pm but other than that?'" Sorry – I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are real issues with transport in general in London – too many vehicles on roads that were not remotely designed to deal with such a volume. One accident and you have stuff snarled for miles. Buses are obviously affected by traffic too. The Tube is nightmarish for all sorts of reasons – including but not limited to overcrowding and it just always being horribly over hot. Prices for public transport are crazy. Fares – even with an Oyster card – have gone up around 56% in the last 18 months alone. In terms of the Olympics, a number of roads will be having one lane removed (in effect) from usual use, so that sponsors etc can travel freely. The athletes, of course, will be in the village etc. So in an already crowded city, buses and cabs will be moved from the lanes they usually use, into the rest of the traffic. From what I've been told by black cab drivers, they've been told they can't go nearer the Olympic stadia than about a mile – so won't benefit from ferrying people there and back. Many are thinking of either going on holiday or not working through the Games. More generally: www.presstv.ir/detail/242310.html www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/2012 ... 15497.html

Quote ="Enicomb"Just what exactly is wrong with the transport in? Driving, granted, is a nightmare and yes the tube shuts at 11pm but other than that?'" Sorry – I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are real issues with transport in general in London – too many vehicles on roads that were not remotely designed to deal with such a volume. One accident and you have stuff snarled for miles. Buses are obviously affected by traffic too. The Tube is nightmarish for all sorts of reasons – including but not limited to overcrowding and it just always being horribly over hot. Prices for public transport are crazy. Fares – even with an Oyster card – have gone up around 56% in the last 18 months alone. In terms of the Olympics, a number of roads will be having one lane removed (in effect) from usual use, so that sponsors etc can travel freely. The athletes, of course, will be in the village etc. So in an already crowded city, buses and cabs will be moved from the lanes they usually use, into the rest of the traffic. From what I've been told by black cab drivers, they've been told they can't go nearer the Olympic stadia than about a mile – so won't benefit from ferrying people there and back. Many are thinking of either going on holiday or not working through the Games. More generally: www.presstv.ir/detail/242310.html www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/2012 ... 15497.html

Quote ="Mintball"Sorry – I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are real issues with transport in general in London – too many vehicles on roads that were not remotely designed to deal with such a volume. One accident and you have stuff snarled for miles. Buses are obviously affected by traffic too. The Tube is nightmarish for all sorts of reasons – including but not limited to overcrowding and it just always being horribly over hot. Prices for public transport are crazy. Fares – even with an Oyster card – have gone up around 56% in the last 18 months alone. In terms of the Olympics, a number of roads will be having one lane removed (in effect) from usual use, so that sponsors etc can travel freely. The athletes, of course, will be in the village etc. So in an already crowded city, buses and cabs will be moved from the lanes they usually use, into the rest of the traffic. From what I've been told by black cab drivers, they've been told they can't go nearer the Olympic stadia than about a mile – so won't benefit from ferrying people there and back. Many are thinking of either going on holiday or not working through the Games. More generally: www.presstv.ir/detail/242310.html www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/2012 ... 15497.html'" I was simply asking what the issues are with transport in London; to which, you've answered quite succinctly. I only ask as the times I've been to London (fairly often) and traveled by car, bus, taxi, coach and tube I've never really had a major issue. Yes car traffic is bad, but (other than the standard of driving) it's not much worse than any other major city. Besides from that the tube is superb; I've always assumed living in London it'd be the first choice of transport. Yes it can be crowded, yes it can be hot but it's still a damn sight better than anything anywhere else in the country. I never really understood the complaints about it to be honest as other than it should be running near 24 hours it's great (oh and less random line closures would be good). Prices on the other hand I agree with, it's very expensive, but i suppose £5 or £6 (not really sure on the exact price as I have an oyster card) isn't too bad for unlimited public transport travel for a day, you can pay that for one bus journey here.

Quote ="Mintball"Sorry – I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are real issues with transport in general in London – too many vehicles on roads that were not remotely designed to deal with such a volume. One accident and you have stuff snarled for miles. Buses are obviously affected by traffic too. The Tube is nightmarish for all sorts of reasons – including but not limited to overcrowding and it just always being horribly over hot. Prices for public transport are crazy. Fares – even with an Oyster card – have gone up around 56% in the last 18 months alone. In terms of the Olympics, a number of roads will be having one lane removed (in effect) from usual use, so that sponsors etc can travel freely. The athletes, of course, will be in the village etc. So in an already crowded city, buses and cabs will be moved from the lanes they usually use, into the rest of the traffic. From what I've been told by black cab drivers, they've been told they can't go nearer the Olympic stadia than about a mile – so won't benefit from ferrying people there and back. Many are thinking of either going on holiday or not working through the Games. More generally: www.presstv.ir/detail/242310.html www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/2012 ... 15497.html'" I was simply asking what the issues are with transport in London; to which, you've answered quite succinctly. I only ask as the times I've been to London (fairly often) and traveled by car, bus, taxi, coach and tube I've never really had a major issue. Yes car traffic is bad, but (other than the standard of driving) it's not much worse than any other major city. Besides from that the tube is superb; I've always assumed living in London it'd be the first choice of transport. Yes it can be crowded, yes it can be hot but it's still a damn sight better than anything anywhere else in the country. I never really understood the complaints about it to be honest as other than it should be running near 24 hours it's great (oh and less random line closures would be good). Prices on the other hand I agree with, it's very expensive, but i suppose £5 or £6 (not really sure on the exact price as I have an oyster card) isn't too bad for unlimited public transport travel for a day, you can pay that for one bus journey here.

Quote ="Mintball"Sorry – I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are real issues with transport in general in London – too many vehicles on roads that were not remotely designed to deal with such a volume. One accident and you have stuff snarled for miles. Buses are obviously affected by traffic too. The Tube is nightmarish for all sorts of reasons – including but not limited to overcrowding and it just always being horribly over hot. Prices for public transport are crazy. Fares – even with an Oyster card – have gone up around 56% in the last 18 months alone. In terms of the Olympics, a number of roads will be having one lane removed (in effect) from usual use, so that sponsors etc can travel freely. The athletes, of course, will be in the village etc. So in an already crowded city, buses and cabs will be moved from the lanes they usually use, into the rest of the traffic. From what I've been told by black cab drivers, they've been told they can't go nearer the Olympic stadia than about a mile – so won't benefit from ferrying people there and back. Many are thinking of either going on holiday or not working through the Games. More generally: www.presstv.ir/detail/242310.html www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/2012 ... 15497.html'" Congestion problems are caused by traffic lights, slow drivers and speed cameras so if you get rid of these then traffic can move through london at a much faster rate e.g 40mph rather than 2 mph. Similarly accidents would no longer occur if the Government banned bad drivers from the road. If these measures were taken public transport costs would decrease as companies would have to cut prices or else consumers could travel via road transport instead.

Quote ="Mintball"Sorry – I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are real issues with transport in general in London – too many vehicles on roads that were not remotely designed to deal with such a volume. One accident and you have stuff snarled for miles. Buses are obviously affected by traffic too. The Tube is nightmarish for all sorts of reasons – including but not limited to overcrowding and it just always being horribly over hot. Prices for public transport are crazy. Fares – even with an Oyster card – have gone up around 56% in the last 18 months alone. In terms of the Olympics, a number of roads will be having one lane removed (in effect) from usual use, so that sponsors etc can travel freely. The athletes, of course, will be in the village etc. So in an already crowded city, buses and cabs will be moved from the lanes they usually use, into the rest of the traffic. From what I've been told by black cab drivers, they've been told they can't go nearer the Olympic stadia than about a mile – so won't benefit from ferrying people there and back. Many are thinking of either going on holiday or not working through the Games. More generally: www.presstv.ir/detail/242310.html www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/2012 ... 15497.html'" Congestion problems are caused by traffic lights, slow drivers and speed cameras so if you get rid of these then traffic can move through london at a much faster rate e.g 40mph rather than 2 mph. Similarly accidents would no longer occur if the Government banned bad drivers from the road. If these measures were taken public transport costs would decrease as companies would have to cut prices or else consumers could travel via road transport instead.

Less talk about the London underground and more talk about Jessica Ennis please

Here is an example of a direct benefit - one of our factories printed the original ticket offer brochure - total cost >£200k it provided work for 4 printers, 3 finishers at 2 support staff for 2 weeks. This would not have happened with the Olympics coming to London. If you cared to take the time you would find hundreds of such examples. To say the Olympics are a negative because you might be put out for a couple of weeks is speaks volumes for your sense of priority. How much of the re-generation costs of Stratford has been born by tax payers who will never benefit from it one bit. London CT payers will be left with superb sporting facilities that can be exploited for future events going forward.

Cities like Manchester will suffer because the elite level training and international events will move from the aquatic and cycle facilities in Manchester to those in London. Yet more centralising of stuff in one city.

You are completely off your trolley.

Congestion may, at times be exacerbated by traffic control systems but congestion is caused purely and simply by an excessive number of vehicles on a particular road network at any one time. The solutions are either to build more roads (difficult in a city like London) or reduce/restrict the numbers of vehicles using the available road space.

I have only ever once driven through London at a speed that even approached 40mph and that was at 2.00am, in the late 70s, with a 4-strong police motorcycle escort. The reason? I had 14 tonnes of high-explosives on board and they wanted me in and out as quickly as possible.

Wow.
You have really surpassed yourself there.

Do you have any evidence you'd like to present to support your blurtings?
It's Friday you see and I like a laugh on a Friday.

To be fair i work in transport in London and when the lights go down the majority of the time the traffic goes a lot quicker, sometimes there are accidents when the lights go down, usually caused by people strangley assuming a broken light is the same as a green rather than a give way junction.

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/08/london-2012-lutalo-muhammad-olympicsDecision (although not the process), now approved by BOA[/url

Indeed, read about it yesterday, so we're going with the 59th placed person in the world and not the world number 1, lunacy!

Agreed, complete madness!

[url=http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CGYQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fcommentisfree%2F2012%2Fapr%2F27%2Fnewham-housing-saga-london&ei=AgzTT--MIIHH0QXj7v2SBA&usg=AFQjCNEe-nhSazHNK6jgevPncfo0jDv-Mg&sig2=ns6STb9KUwIqTJJFlWsjpgIf there's one thing the people of Newham need at a time like this it's a water polo arena[/url.

A weekend ski holiday in March told me everything I need to know about the cost and legacy of the Olympics. I spent a weekend in Pragelato which is a small town in the next valley to Sestriere in Italy at the hotel built to host the ski jump event for Torino 2008. They said it gets used once or twice every winter for some high profile events but other than that it's entirely pointless. I'd expect much the same from the purpose built London Olympic venues.

As for the discussion about the Tube - it's both brilliant and awful in equal measure. For residents it's amazing value for money in terms of network coverage, but anybody who thinks that it's "just a bit hot" wants to try commuting on the central line during summer. 35 degrees+ is very common and when you're caged into a carriage designed for 100 with 200 other people it's absolute hell. If it wasn't for the fact I have to travel through Stratford to get to and from work during the Olympics I'd be looking forward to seeing that part of the transport network collapse spectacularly for three weeks. I had the misfortune to have to travel through Stratford during their test event last month - it didn't go well and that was a quiet Saturday afternoon.

So why was this geezer picked ahead of someone better than him? Any offerings?

They should follow the Harry hill approach to dispute resolution

He fell out wiith the association over training regimes. Opted out of their elite programme, with subsequent success. They're now trying to justify picking the other geezer on the basis of a rule change which, they argue, favours the other geezer

There has been a change to the scoring system.
Head shot scoring has been changed and going purely on stats with that in mind they haven't gone for the worlds number 1.
What they seemed to have not taken into account is that the world number one had been playing to the rules as they were and there is no evidence that he can't change his style to compensate and stay at the top.

In otherwords pen pushers have pushed pens with no common sense gone into it.

At least that is how I understand it.

This as well.

"Despite accepting GB Taekwondo's nomination, the BOA, which said it reserved the right to re-examine the affair in the light of an ongoing inquiry by the WTF, was highly critical of the selection procedure."

WTF! indeed